Sides

I am the only one in my little family who likes asparagus, so I rarely cook it because I can’t get anyone to eat it! Then recently I found a recipe for parmesan fries on pinterest that seemed to “disguise” the asparagus enough that my kids wouldn’t know what they were eating, and delicious enough that my husband wouldn’t complain–so I made a couple of different versions with high hopes, both of which were horrible! The first, I thought i’d be clever and creative, and added some citrus–which was SO gross that it almost put me off asparagus {with the rest of my family}. Then the second was a classic, popular recipe–but I just couldn’t get the flour and egg and parmesan and panko to adhere to a smooth, shiny, thin asparagus spear, and it was a huge, frustrating MESS!

Then yesterday as I resolved to master attempt number 3 {the more something defeats me, the more determined I am to defeat IT!} I decided to wrap prosciutto around the asparagus first. Not only would this help the heavy mixture of flour and egg and cheese and panko actually STICK to the spear, but I knew my family would LOVE it if it involved bacon, {even in its slightly healthier form}. It worked like a charm! They were salty, and cheesy, and crispy and pretty heavenly! I served them alongside a couple of steaks, but they would be great dipped in a cheesy, creamy alfredo sauce too! Yum!More

This week I decided to make a delicious Chicken Biryani, which I couldn’t serve without a side of delicious, cooling, raita! I have attempted raita, and its cousin tzatziki, in the past–but just couldn’t seem to get them as thick and creamy and flavorful as I would have liked. This time, I decided to use the highest quality greek yoghurt that I could find, so the base of the sauce was instantly as thick and creamy as possible, then drained every last bit of water from the cucumbers I could so the sauce would stay like that, and not thin out. Not only was this raita finally the perfect texture I had been looking for–but the seasonings, spices and added mint were the perfect blend of flavors. It was delicious served alongside the Biryani–but would also be a delicious accompaniment for any spicy curry, chicken tikka masala, or stuffed naan. What are some things that you like to serve with a raita?More

I tried my first ever olive tapenade a few months ago–until then, I had never even heard of one, so for those of you in the same boat, a tapenade is basically a spread consisting of chopped olives or capers or anchovies with olive oil! A reader of mine also commented he uses figs in his, which would be delicious! My mother in law found a pre-made tapenade from costco, spread it on some flat bread and topped it with prosciutto, fresh buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, and we were all obsessed. I have been thinking of ways to use tapenade ever since…. in pretty much everything.

I’ve been having fun making some “green” recipes this week in honor of St. Patrick’s day, but I also wanted to try making something that was traditionally Irish– so I thought i’d have a go at making Colcannon for the first time ever. It’s basically just mashed potato with kale or cabbage mixed in — but I was kind of taken aback by how something so simplistic could be so clever, and SO delicious. You can also add bacon, but since I wanted to serve it with Corned Beef, I thought that would be a lot of salty meat, and a little too heavy on the calories, so I kept this recipe light, and creamy, and it complimented the corned beef perfectly! I really can’t believe I have never tried this before, but I can’t wait to make it every St. patrick’s!

I don’t know why I get so excited about St. Patrick’s… i’m not Irish {although I am 1/4 Irish!} I don’t drink. I HATE getting pinched because I don’t own anything in the color green, and I can’t even spell lepricorn! Haha. But honestly, I do LOVE Ireland and think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world {esp. since it’s on the same island as my home and all!} And I love good excuses to just celebrate! This weekend we’re going to the St. Patrick’s day parade in Spokane, which will be fun. But until then, I thought it might also be fun to theme my posts around rainbows and gold and green, and all things irish.More

About Me

Hi, i’m Sarah. Welcome to “Mattawa Mum” a place for me to share my life as an English stay at home Mum of two, in a small American farm town known as Mattawa. Life out here in the middle of nowhere has been one hard adjustment--I used to live an hour from London, and now I live an hour from a decent grocery store, but I have found that working hard, keeping busy and learning all I can, help me focus on more positive things as I grow as a wife, mother, artist, crafter, photographer, home-cook and now “Country-girl!” I hope you stay a while, and find something fun to read, cute to copy, or good to eat!